Analysis of Student Preconceptions Related to Telecommunications and Quality of Service

Abstract

This study evaluates STEM students' preconceptions regarding Quality of Service (QoS) in telecommunications and networking with the goal of understanding the nature of these preconceptions to improve student learning in this discipline. In this study we explain the importance of identifying preconceptions with which students enter our classrooms and illustrate a mechanism successfully used in this identification process. Researchers have explained it incumbent on educators to address preconceptions in order to effectively change student beliefs 1 .Analyzing the causes of these will allow teachers to instruct effectively from the start of the topic rather that lose time by re-teaching the material. As networks grow to handle increasing demands for capacity and QoS, telecommunications professionals are responsible for engineering and managing these networks. A solid understanding of factors that affect QoS is imperative and, as such, telecommunications networking instruction must be properly informed.

Analysis of Student Preconceptions Related to Quality of Service and Basic Principles in Telecommunications

“…An initial study involved a group of 24 undergraduate students 13 . This second survey had 36 undergraduate students enrolled in a networking technologies course as part of their telecommunications engineering technology option, and two sections of a graduate networking course with a total of 50 students.…”

“…We hypothesize that to effectively address misconceptions, student culture must be taken into account. In addition, by analyzing student responses to misconception testing, we have taken the first steps in developing a concept inventory for telecommunications and networking.This work augments a previous study on STEM undergraduate students' preconceptions regarding Quality of Service (QoS) in telecommunications 13 , by giving the same survey to a larger number of students across different programs and countries and investigating the effects of culture and experience on preconceptions related specifically to QoS.In this study, the survey was given to two new groups of students and the pre-and postinstruction responses were the analyzed. The first group was primarily from India and were studying towards a graduate degree in telecommunications; the second group was primarily from the USA and were taking a networking class as part of their undergraduate degree.…”